Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Peter Mutharika has described as a pity that Malawi has a president in Lazarus Chakwera who is not leading Malawians.
Mutharika made the remarks in Mangochi Friday when he held a press briefing to share with Malawians what he said are causes and solutions for the country’s economic challenges.
Mutharika said Malawians are facing economic challenges today because Chakwera has abdicated his duty and Malawi is just “operating without a leader”.
He further said Chakwera’s frequent international trips is a sign of lack of leadership.
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“The government has failed on improving the lives of Malawians. The Chakwera administration is not prioritizing procurement of essential commodities in favour of trivial matters,” he said.
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Last week, the Malawi Government announced a 44 percent devaluation of the kwacha, a development which Mutharika said was a big mistake by the government because it happened without a proper plan on how to ease the burden the plunging of the kwacha would cause on Malawians.
He said the pain stemming from the devaluation of the kwacha is unbearable for most Malawians who are not able to meet their daily needs.
“This government is very reckless and clueless. They ended an IMF program [in 2020] ignorantly. Now they are just devaluing the kwacha by up to 44 percent. They blamed us for misreporting to the IMF but all this is a lie,” he said.
He said when he left government, the country’s inflation was single digit, Malawi’s import cover was at six months and the kwacha was strong against other currencies.
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“But all these have gone up because of bad governance and poor economic policies by the Chakwera administration. It is time for Malawians to decide so that we don’t put in place incompetent people,” he said.
Mutharika challenged Chakwera to recover the country’s economy by, among other things, reducing his Cabinet, his advisors and reduce external traveling.
“Chakwera must show Malawians how much money the government is pumping into the financial sector to resuscitate the economy. He must reduce careless expenditures to save money that can be pumped into the financial sector so that interest rates can be reduced. Government must also subsidize maize to at least K25,000 so that poor people are able to buy it,” he said.
Taking his turn, former Reserve Bank Governor who is also a DPP presidential hopeful Dalitso Kabambe said government is the biggest consumer of forex that is generated by a few individuals and organisations.
As such, Kabambe said, reducing government expenditure can help save forex that is only generated by a small holder farmers who are currently struggling to access inputs.
He said the current government has not created any new ways of generating forex for the country.
“Government should find ways of increasing production of crops that can bring forex for the country. It is sad that the measures announced by the Minister of Finance do not contain any real measures that will help the economy recover,” he said.
But in his response, government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu said Mutharika and his team do not have a moral ground to stand on and accuse the Chakwera administration because they are the once that created the problems Chakwera is clearing.
Kunkuyu said Malawi needs permanent solutions, which is why Chakwera-led government is speeding up investments in agriculture, tourism and mining as the potential drivers of an economic rebound.
“Former presidents who care about those who made them presidents in the past are helping Malawians during this time. He is a different breed,” said Kunkuyu
Kunkuyu described as a huge risk for the current administration to try to learn from Mutharika’s book because, according to him, Mutharika plundered the country’s resources with his cabinet.
He further asked Mutharika to allow Chakwera to rule country and take it to a direction which will benefit generations and not a few individuals.
